End ballast tamper



March 7, 1933. c. c. COOK END BALLAST TAMPER Filed July 22, 1932 FIG. 1.

CI C. COOK INVENTOR.

BY/ W ATTORNEY.

Patented Mar. .7, 1933 CHARLES e. COOK, or BALTI ORE, MARYLAND ATENT- END BALLAST TAMPER Application filed July 22,

Long experience hasshown that there is a decided saving in wear on rails and car Wheels, as well as greater comfort to the train passengers in the use of ballast under rail road ties, rather than having a rigid bed for the rails. After use of the track for some time, the ballast under the ties comes out, and is crushed, so that the rails sag unevenly, and they are usually lowestat the junction of two rail sections, because there is more pounding by the wheels on the rails at that point. The ballast has usually been repacked under the ties by pounding from both the sides of the ties and also at the ends, thereby breaking up the old packed bed for the ties and making a new one of the proper depth. Additional ballast is also added in the process. This process requires several men anc considerable time, with the consequence that when rail road earnings have: been low, as they are at present, the road beds were allowed to become very uneven. I propose to do the same work with my invention of a very inexpensive tool that I have developedafter over twenty-four years in track maintenance engineering on one of the larger rail roads of the United States.

My invention relates to an end ballast tamper for rail road ties, and its objects are to provide an inexpensive tool that may be used to quickly build up and keep resilient. p

the old foundation of ties of rail roads without having to so nearly remake the foundation on which the ties rest.

I attain these objects by the toolillustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which, Figure 1 is a perspectiveview of a track section showing my new tamper in use. Fig. 2 is a side view of a tie, slightly raised at the end, showing in detail the application of new ballast. Fig. 3 is a plan view of the new tamper. Fi 4 is a side view thereof.

gimilar numerals refer. to similar parts throughout the several views.

The rails 1 should be closely spiked to the 1932. Serial No. 623,956.

FICE.

ties 2, and then by-sighting, the crew foreit man can tell how much elevation the rails need. The section then being raised is lifted by jack 4, slightly above the desired level,

from the ballast 3 and the ballast should also be cleared from the ends'of the ties.

The tamper comprises a comparatively thin flexible steel blade 5 having a lengthwise extending handle 6 offset from the blade face by a shank 7. The blade is long enough to reach under the end of the tie, well'beyond the rail, and is wide enough to hold a'load of ballast. j

' The operator takes the end of the blade in one hand, thehandle in the other, and pushing the blade sidewise under available ballast, scoops up a load, rests the free end of the 1 blade on the ballast under the tie, and with the handle, pushes the load of ballast lengthwise under the tie and bya quick reverse action, withdraws the blade, the ballast remaining in the placed position. The resilient flexibility of the steel blade makes this quick withdrawing action possible, the workman need only bend over, and he may quickly rise as the blade is withdrawn. The offset of the handle aswell as its longitudinal exten-.

sion facilitates this action as well as making very easy the initial loading of theblade. Successive loads of ballast are thus put in lace until the desired elevation is attained. The blade,and the ballast upon it, serves to push the placed ballast back under the tie, this being the only ballast packing act-ion utilized. The addition of ballast should extend I from, a point approximately eighteen inches inside of the rail to the end of the'tie so that the tie will give firm support to the rail. Ballast for the full width of the tie is secured either by placing and leveling sue cessive blade loads or by putting in one blade load beside another. Withdrawal of the blade, even though it be pulled sidewise, wi-llnot disturb the ballast location as the thinness of: the bladewill allow it to cut through the placed ballast. In using my device the crew foreman will become so experienced that by a glance he can see how many blade loads are required, and his crew will then insert the indicated number. The ballast may be stone, gravel, cinder, slag, chatts, sand, or other material, and this method of tamping the ties is successful with any of them.

The jacks are then removed and the rail settles to its desired level. In this way is utilized the existing bed of ballast which has been made solid and substantial by the impact of repeated blows from wheel and axle loads of passing trains. By avoiding any disturbance of this compacted bed of ballast when raising the track, advantage is taken of the complete and thorough compression of ballast resulting from train movement. The amount of material to be handled and the labor to apply it is thus reduced to a minimum and the assurance of a more permanent surface of track is given in the utilization of the sub-base of undisturbed compacted ballast upon which has been placed a layer of fresh ballast which provides a more nearly uniform resiliency of track consistent with adjoining portions of the track and so insures a more permanent track and more comfortable riding. Proper drainage of the ballast takes place in the less densely packed part between the ties.

' It has previously been proposed to use an elongated pan having sides and a pusher, the pan being placed under the tie and the pusher used to push the ballast from it. By my device no pusher. is required, it is far more easily handled,,both inloading and unloading it, and the ballast, by being allowed to remainwhere placed by the quick snap withdrawal, is better distributed over the desired surface.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In an end ballast tamper for rail road ties, a substantially rectangular resiliently flexible ballast holding blade, the resilient flexibility of said blade allowing bending in being inserted and withdrawn from under a tie, said blade having a handle attached to one end thereof an removed from the face of the blade, said blade being longer than the distance from the end of a standard length wooden tie to a point inside of the inner edge ofthe base of the rail.

2. In an end ballast tamper for rail road ties, a substantially rectangular resiliently flexible ballast holding blade, the resilient flexibility of said blade allowing bending in being inserted and withdrawn from under a tie, said blade having a handle offset from the face of the blade, said blade being longer than the distance from the end of a standard length wooden tie, to a pointinside of the inner edge of the base of the rail.

base of the. rail. v

CHARLES C. COOK. 

